X-Message-Number: 25344 Date: Thu, 16 Dec 2004 06:10:10 -0800 (PST) From: Jim N <> Subject: Family background/beliefs and how it affects attitudes towards cryonics This cryonet comment is a spin-off of comments here: http://www.network54.com/Forum/54030 and here: http://www.network54.com/Forum/thread?forumid=365293&messageid=1102423782&lp=1103033663 and here: http://www.network54.com/Forum/message?forumid=291677&messageid=1103206037 Referring to Rick Potvin statement about his dad's afterlife beliefs: Rick, somewhere in one of your multitude of forums, you wrote that your dad turned down cryonics, saying that when he died he would pop into alternate universe. THat weird, man! But that belief of your dad is probably one BIG reason why you were able to consider cryonics, and why you are now signed up. Here is a theory of mine: most cryonicists had parents who were rather different in their beliefs about death or religion, at least while the cryonicists-to-be were growing up. My mother was a Jehovah's Witness. Now, they have some sort of different beliefs about death. As I recall, they think that when you die, you're dead, until and unless god brings down the second coming or rapture or whatever it is, at which time the dead (certain selected dead, i.e., Witnesses) rise from their graves to live on the earth as immortals. Pretty good, huh? Pretty sweet deal, huh? Now, see, that is a rather concrete and non-abstract afterlife scenario, and perhaps it planted in my youthful head the idea of immortality here on earth. Also, my dad, at least when I was growing up, never mentioned religion or an afterlife to me. He seemed antagonistic towards religion. However, about 10 yeras ago, when I broached the subject of cryonics and death with him, he intimated that he thought there was an afterlife. No other details were forthcoming.... Also, my parents were different from most other people in their attitudes towards conformity with respect to society. Both were quite nonconformist and my mother and many other Jehovahs Witnesses even actively seek out a role as outcasts from society. My father came from a ranching family that rejected government handouts for ranchers, even to the point where they went into massive debt to avoid doing so. Rather stupid of them actually. But my nonconformist family background is probably what gave me the background to consider cryonics. That and the fact that I read hundreds of books when I was a kid, many of them science fiction, and in particular, most of the works of Robert Heinlein. __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Mail - 250MB free storage. Do more. Manage less. http://info.mail.yahoo.com/mail_250 Rate This Message: http://www.cryonet.org/cgi-bin/rate.cgi?msg=25344